On Saturday, October 18, after approximately 7 million Americans protested against Trump’s authoritarianism, he launched an AI-generated video on social media showing himself as a fighter-pilot king flying above protestors, dumping feces on them.
I was appalled: What has Trump done to this country, in just 9 months, to make it acceptable for our President to disseminate propaganda, glorifying himself as a King shitting on his subjects?
That video is just one example of the flood of propaganda put forward by this administration. From partisan messages on government web sites, to egregious exaggerations in press releases, to outright lies by Trump and all his minions, this nation has never seen so much Goebbels-like propaganda by our own government.
To fight back against this administration’s tsunami of propaganda, there are three legal options: an appropriations bill rider; the Hatch Act; and the Smith-Mundt Act, for which Rep. Thomas Massie (KY-4) has proposed an amendment.
But first, here are examples of the propaganda we’re up against.
The Trump administration pulls out all the propaganda stops
Trump frequently posts images disparaging political opponents, like one showing faces of Democratic politicians titled “THE PARTY OF HATE, EVIL, AND SATAN.” He has also stated that he hates Democrats, as they are evil, and he changed the rules to allow federal employees to wear pro-Trump regalia.
Kristi Noem’s TSA airport video, blaming Democrats for the long TSA lines, was so blatantly partisan that many airports refused to air it, as federal law requires them to be neutral in delivering service.
Stephen Miller is notorious for his incendiary rhetoric (usually white supremacist), like this assertion on Fox “News”: “The Democrat Party does not fight for, care about, or represent American citizens. It is an entity devoted exclusively to the defense of hardened criminals, gang-bangers, and illegal-alien killers and terrorists. The Democrat Party is not a political party. It is a domestic extremist organization.”
During the October government shutdown, federal websites displayed a variety of anti-Democrat messaging, like “The Radical Left in Congress shut down the government.” Concurrently, federal employees were stunned to find their email accounts hijacked to send partisan auto-replies – without their knowledge or consent.
At a White House press briefing, Vice President J.D Vance said, “The Chuck Schumer-AOC wing of the Democratic party shut down the government because they said to us, ‘We will open the government only if you give billions of dollars of funding to healthcare for illegal aliens.’” [Note: This was a lie.]
What’s the purpose of this government-sponsored propaganda? It’s obvious: sowing hate, fear, and polarization. Trump never intended to be a “president for all,” and his minions are following suit: anyone not on their side is the enemy.
How can we stop this? There are three legal options
#1: A rider to the Appropriations Bill
As noted by the Ethics Board of the National Institutes of Health, each year a rider is attached to an appropriations bill that prohibits the use of federal funds (in other words, our tax dollars) for propaganda purposes. The Comptroller General has interpreted “propaganda” as materials that are self-aggrandizing, covert as to their origin, or purely partisan.
#2: The Hatch Act
The Hatch Act of 1939 prohibits Executive Branch employees from engaging in or coercing others to engage in political activity. More than one ethics expert has noted that the Trump administration is repeatedly violating the Act.
- Richard Painter, ethics lawyer for President G.W. Bush, told CNN that seizing control of federal employees’ emails during the shutdown was coercion, thus violating the Hatch Act.
- Donald Sherman, executive director and chief counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, told NPR, “‘Agency leadership’s job in this moment is to provide nonpartisan service to their constituents, not politicize the situation and blame political enemies.’”
Unfortunately, the Hatch Act covers everyone in the Executive Branch except the President and Vice President.
UPDATE: Democracy Forward and Public Citizen have filed a lawsuit against the federal government for violating employees’ First Amendment Rights when it hijacked their emails to disperse partisan rhetoric.
But what about the free speech rights of federal employees? Entities operating in non-public forums, like the government, are allowed to limit speech, because employees, especially the military, are expected to deliver services in a non-partisan, impartial manner to avoid disruption and favoritism and maintain peace, safety, and effectiveness.
#3: The Smith-Mundt Act (SMA)
This one can get into the weeds. Originally passed in 1948, SMA prohibited federally (taxpayer) funded government propaganda from being disseminated domestically by the Dept. of State (DOS) or the Broadcasting Board of Governors (now the U.S. Agency for Global Media, USAGM). Since then, it has undergone several amendments – with another now proposed by Rep. Thomas Massie (KY-4). Massie’s amendment aims to restore SMA’s original intent, noting that the restriction applies to all media disseminated by DOS or USAGM “irrespective of who creates that propaganda.”
So here’s a dandelion: In 2013, Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which contained the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act (SMMA). Misinformation being circulated says that via SMMA, Obama allowed federal propagandizing to Americans. But experts say that’s not true: It just gave Americans access to materials disseminated abroad, such as via the Internet or FOIA requests.
Nonetheless, SMMA remains unclear. In the Northwestern University Law Review, Weston Sager warned it allowed the federal government to use surreptitious propaganda to influence public opinion. Massie concurs, “[A]s a member of the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, I frequently heard testimony about the Biden administration’s efforts to shape online narratives. This reignited my interest in eliminating routes that bad actors in the federal government could exploit to wage influence campaigns on Americans...[I]t became clear that we need formal legislation.”
Penalizing the Trump regime’s propaganda
Some of the more egregious propaganda spewers are Trump, Vance, Miller, and Noem. This chart shows each legal option, who it does and does not apply to, who can bring complaints, which office handles violations, and the range of penalties:
| Appropriations Rider | Hatch Act | Smith-Mundt | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Covers | All federally-funded propaganda, incl Trump, Vance, Miller, Noem | All Exec Branch employees, incl Miller, Noem | Propaganda disseminated by USAGM & DOS |
| Exempts | ALL privately funded propaganda | Trump/Vance; Congress & DOJ have their own ethics rules | Propaganda disseminated by every other dept, thus exempting Trump/Vance, Miller, Noem |
| Who Brings Complaints | Inspectors General, Cong Cmtes | Citizens, govt employees, Cong members | Inspectors General, Cong Cmtes |
| Who Handles Violations | Government Accountability Office (headed by Gene Dodaro thru Dec. 25), via infringement of Anti-Deficiency Act | Office of Special Counsel (with no leader to date) | GAO, via Anti-Deficiency Act |
| Penalties | Disciplinary action, termination, criminal prosecution, or fine of $10–$100K | Disciplinary action, termination, fine of $1,000 | Disciplinary action, termination, loss of pay, fine of $5,000, or imprisonment, says Massie |
In trying to make sense of this, it’s clear the Hatch Act doesn’t have much teeth. Plus, most impartial civil servants have been fired or replaced with loyalists; thus filing a complaint against Noem, Miller, or others is unlikely to yield results. “‘We just all accept that the Hatch Act is null and void,’ one federal worker ... told NPR.”
A more potent penalty would be dispensed under the Appropriations Rider – but only if the propaganda is federally funded, like Noem’s TSA video.
The Inspectors General, which conduct oversight on legal and ethical questions concerning each agency, would normally be an important watchdog to bring charges under the Anti-Deficiency or Smith-Mundt Acts. But Trump purged most of them, then many subsequently resigned, leaving only 24% of the original staff. It appears that eliminating oversight was by design.
Vance and Trump may also be prosecuted under the Appropriations Rider – but can easily get around penalties, by restricting their propaganda to free or privately-funded propaganda. David Warrington, White House Counsel, advises Trump on legal and ethical matters. However, Russel Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, has repeatedly advised Trump to disregard legal restrictions. Plus, Trump has fired or replaced non-partisan DOJ employees with loyalists who are instructed to dismiss cases he disagrees with. “[I]t is highly unlikely the current Department of Justice will prosecute officials within the Trump administration no matter how flagrant the violation,” says Tim Whitehouse, attorney at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. Again, by design.
Thus, we’re left with the nuclear options for stopping Trump and Vance and their propaganda: removal via Amendment 25 or the Impeachment Clause of the Constitution. But “disseminating propaganda” is unlikely to rise to cause for either.
What CAN we do?
- Call it out, repeatedly, for what it is: PROPAGANDA.
- SHARE truthful information which counters the lies; some Trump supporters will begin to question the disparity.
- Call, call, CALL your reps, and ask them to use their power to bring complaints. Demand they ask for the resignations of Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem, etc.
- Sign petitions which support these actions – and file your own Hatch Act complaint!
Government propaganda has become normalized in 2025 America, creating hate and contempt for neighbors, coworkers, friends, even family. If we don’t stop this, it could cause division in our country that will be impossible to come back from. Then we will cease to live up to the ideal solidified in our name: “United” States of America.
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